When's the best time to sell a house?

Real Estate is not just about location, location, location. It's also about timing, timing, timing.

While sellers can do nothing to improve the location of their home, the same is not true for timing. Sellers can optimize their returns on housing sales by picking the most opportune time to sell.

And the best time to sell is May. As temperatures start to rise, enthusiasm and hope are also rising among real estate buyers and sellers. For those sitting on the fence wondering when to list, the time is now.

Weather and consumer sentiment have a lot to do with housing sales volumes. Cold and wet weather is correlated with slower housing sales. The presence of seasonality in real estate, with sales rising in summer months and falling in winter months is a well established fact.

While the housing market can be shaken up by rising mortgage rates, new mortgage rules and uncertainty, nasty weather and bad storms make matters worse.

After the slower winter months, the pent up demand for housing purchases is realized in early summer with help from houses showing better with leaves on the trees and manicured lawns.

Smart sellers must, therefore, add timing to the location mantra. Whereas sellers cannot pick a better location for their homes, they may pick a better time to sell.